anyone have the drawings and parts list to make one of those methanol burner things ... i rember seeing one that used an old propane tank.and a hair dryer.. the flame exited like a twister pretty neat thing i wish i could rember . id like to make one so i dont have to store the glyercine byproduct and have it combust or something

I think you would be better off to recover your methanol from the glycerol, you could easily build a solar still for that purpose, you live in an area where it is mostly warm. Are you close to arcadia or Myaka city? I know both coasts south of Orlando, but I always tried to keep away from the center of the state. Some people use their glyc. byproduct for animal feed or compost. burning this stuff at too low a temp can cause dangerous fumes.

i plan on storing the glycerol in a 55 gallon closed top drum.. maybe i can cut the top make a box out of plywood paint it black make the interior shiny or black and put a plexi glass top and leave it outside next to the shop.. it wont blow up will it???? id like to dipose of the glycerine in a safe way or give it to agriculture for there compost if they use it

i have no idea where those two cities are.. but im close to plant city

Dontsa,do a google search for "solar still" using the quotation marks, then you could recover the methanol and re-use it, if you just want it to evaporate that is real easy, but you are doing this in high school right? this would be another way to show different principles of recycling and self reliance away from petroleum. this same still could be used to produce fuel grade (AKA moonshine) fuel.

Plant city huh,I was just in Ruskin visiting the parental units the first week of Sept. I wish I would have known. that was pretty close

ive got an idea.. i looked at some of those pics... i could take a 55 gallon drum i have a plastic one paint it black right?? and get a clear trash bag or a black one and have it like a cone shape going inside the drum with a 5 gallon bucket inside to capture the methanol drops right makwa?? id put a crap load of no smoking sings all over the place and such as the area right outside the shop is hit by sun all day long

Wrong kind of still. the one you are refering to is mostly for water, such as being stranded in the desert. (by you you just need to dig 3 inches and your feet will be wet) what you need to look for is a type of moonshine still that is solar powered.

I have a related question. Has anyone experimented with burning the glycerine in one of those waste oil burners?We are trying (like you all) to find a way to burn the glycerine to heat the workshop/garage. Up until now it has all gone onto the compost and eventually into the fields as fertilizer - but there must be a way to safely burn it...mustn't there???? It would sure be helpful here in the north - winter can be cold.

someone combined a turk burner unit inside a large drip stove adapted from a mother earth design. Seemed like a sucessful taming of the fierce turk burner and keeps it fed. Even had a boiler coil. Made it from an old gas boiler.

I use a waste oil burner to heat my shop and was thinking about burning the glycerine/methanol through it. My burner is homemade and I use a fuel oil furnace gunburner to atomize the oil and fire it inside of an old woodstove. I rarely get any smoke inside the building but I don't want to produce poisonous gasses either. This unit burns real hot but I would like to know if anyone knows what it takes to eliminate the poison gas.

You would have to clean, strain, or filter glycerol to burn it in a waste oil burner (WOB) but just pour it into a turk and set it a fire. I don't know if a WOB would burn glycerol turks do because they are burning vapor.

I think gylcerol must be burned at least 1100 or 1500F to be safe. I believe a turk gets hot enough as it will get a steel bar laid across it's top red hot very fast. How hot is red hot steel?

I built a turk burner out of an old paint can and a soup can. The glycerine burns, but not nearly hot enough to be useful, and I want to use it to heat my WVO for reaction. My design isn't ideal, but I would have thought it would work a lot better than it does. I should meantion that I do not recover the methanol from the glycerine.

I read that the key is to get alot of heat into the glycerine, so I made a sort of baffle arrangement that I put down into the center of the inner can (where the glycerine is held) to conduct heat from the flame down into the glycerine. That helps, but not enough. Do I just need more area for vaporization? I'm going to try another design with just a piece of pipe in a paint can to see if it will burn better.

I also tried biodiesel and WVO in it. They both burn quite well, much better than the glycerine. But with WVO and biodiesel the flame is very yellow and makes a lot - and I mean a lot - of soot. The pot I heated the oil in was completely covered with soot when I was done. I think I just need more air flow - as right now I'm just using a small cooling fan from some electronic instrumentation.

I've done a few tests (outside) with glycerine whose methanol was still in it and it burns qute well, although there is a steady stream of black acrid smoke (acrolene?) and it leaves quite a residue of hard black gunk.I also will be building a Turk Burner soon. I have a blower and I am removing the SVO system from the Benz so I will have a tank for WVO as well. I have the propane tank and the AC tank, so now it is a matter of cutting, some welding and assemblage, which will be done once the Benz stops giving me headaches.

I built 3 glycerin burners before I got one right. Seems that glycerin burns above 850 degrees, and a lower temperature leaves the black gunk. So the last burner is masonry lined, to retain the heat. It has to be fired with a babington burning vegetable oil, and when hot the glycerin is added to the stove as a separate stream. I could post a picture if anyone want to see it.

Originally posted by Homestead:... It has to be fired with a babington burning vegetable oil, and when hot the glycerin is added to the stove as a separate stream. I could post a picture if anyone want to see it.

Tom Leue

Pic away, I'd like to have a snoop. The next project in line is the turk burner, but using a drip oil feed and a small blower, but who knows, maybe yours is better.